Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (77-51) did what they needed to do at Coors, sweeping the Rockies and seeing contributions from a few struggling players over the three games. They scored 11 runs on Monday after scoring 10 runs in the four games against Milwaukee last weekend, and most importantly no one got severely injured. The lead in the NL West is back up to nine and they remain two games back of Milwaukee for the top seed in the NL, but now have a two game lead over Atlanta for the 2 seed and the final first-round bye. The Dodgers head to Atlanta on Tuesday, so they have a chance this weekend to build that lead up against the Pirates while Atlanta spends the weekend in Milwaukee.
The Pirates (63-66) are in fourth in the NL Central, 16.5 back of Milwaukee. They’re 5.5 back of the Padres for the final Wild Card spot in the NL, which is unfortunate for them as the 63-66 Blue Jays are only a half game out of a Wild Card spot in the AL. The Pirates actually have the second-best run differential among NL Wild Card teams (+31) mostly due to their offense being third in runs scored this season with 646, only behind the Nats and Cubs. They’ve given up the seventh most runs in baseball this season (615), thanks in part to Paul Skenes having an ERA (3.95) higher than his ERA’s from his first two seasons combined (1.96 and 1.97, respectively). The Dodgers took two of three in Pittsburgh back in June in three high-scoring games. They won the opener 12-3, dropped the middle game 9-8 and took the rubber match 8-6.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| 1B | Horwitz (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 2B | Lowe (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| LF | Reynolds (S) | CF | Pages |
| DH | N. Gonzalez | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| CF | Cruz (L) | SS | Betts |
| C | Flores Jr. | RF | Tucker (L) |
| RF | Mangum (S) | 2B | Edman (S) |
| SS | J. Gonzalez (L) | LF | T. Hernández |
| 3B | Triolo | C | Feduccia (L) |
| P | Chandler (R) | P | Yamamoto (R) |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his 23rd start of the season tonight. He has a 2.60 ERA/3.34 FIP in 145 1/3 innings, but hasn’t been quite as dominant as years past. He has fewer strikeouts (136) than innings pitched for the first time in his three seasons and has already allowed more homers (15) than he did in 173 2/3 innings last season (14). He’s coming off a strong start in the Dodgers’ lone win against Milwaukee, where he allowed a run on four hits and two walks over six innings with nine strikeouts. The lone run came on some Brewer smallball, as they led off with a double before a bunt single put runners on the corners and a fly ball drove in the run. He took the loss in his only career start against the Pirates last April in LA. He gave up an RBI single in the first inning for his lone earned run, but gave up two unearned in the fifth after a Max Muncy throwing error for a 3-0 Dodger loss.
Rookie Bubba Chandler makes his 24th start/25th appearance of the season. He has a 4.23 ERA/4.09 FIP in 121 1/3 innings but has been excellent of late. He only has six wins on the season, but three of them have come in his three August starts. He’s allowed four earned runs (and one earned) and 11 hits in 16 2/3 innings this month with two of those starts coming against the Brewers and Red Sox. He faced Boston last time out and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks in five innings. He started that game with four shutout innings thanks to Willson Contreras getting thrown out at home trying to score in the fourth. He issued back-to-back walks to start the fifth and gave up an RBI single and a sac fly for both runs. Chandler faced the Dodgers as a bulk boi last September and got the win, allowing three runs on six hits in four innings in a 9-7 Pirate win. Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages each took Chandler deep.
Chandler, like most Pirate starters, leans on a high-velo fastball. He throws a fastball 48.9 percent of the time and averages 98.4 MPH, the second-fasted among starters with 750+ fastballs thrown. Unfortunately he doesn’t always know where it’s going, as his 12.1 percent walk rate is the second-worst among pitchers with 100+ innings pitched. Chandler also throws a slider (20.5 percent) and change (15.7 percent) and mixes in a sinker, sweeper and curve (all under 10 percent).
Not really any surprises in the Dodger lineup. Kyle Tucker is in there and Dave Roberts said Tucker would start all three games of this series.
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Some positive injury updates on Ohtani, Will Smith, Will Klein and Tyler Glasnow.
Dave Roberts said Shohei Ohtani will throw a bullpen and live BP or two before getting back on the mound in game action. A lot TBD still but the expectation is he’ll be back.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) August 21, 2026
Will Smith is facing live pitching today. pic.twitter.com/T1WVaWnO52
— Sonja Chen (@SonjaMChen) August 21, 2026
Dave Roberts said if all things check out, Tyler Glasnow will be activated in the Braves series.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) August 21, 2026
Ohtani still has a few steps to conquer before returning to the rotation. He obviously won’t be going on a rehab assignment, like last season he’ll just throw some bullpens and face batters pregame.
Smith took some live BP today and will do so a few more times before setting out on a rehab assignment. They’re hoping he’s back during the first week of September.
Klein opted to rest rather than have surgery on his elbow, and now he’s reportedly symptom free. It’s still unknown if he’ll be back this season, but that seems like promising news either way.
Finally, Glasnow is set to return in Atlanta assuming there’s no issues. He made what should be his final rehab start on Wednesday and threw 77 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. He gave up a run on one hit and a walk and struck out nine.
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The Dodgers also made a roster move. Paul Gervase is back in the bullpen, and Emmet Sheehan was sent back to OKC.
The Dodgers recalled RHP Paul Gervase and optioned RHP Emmet Sheehan.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 21, 2026
Sheehan was up as insurance in case of some Coors fuckery, so now the Dodgers turn to a more traditional one-inning reliever. It’s Gervase’s third stint in the Majors. He’s pitched in four games for the Dodgers this season and allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings.
No other roster move before I schedule this but Jake Cousins is also in the Dodger clubhouse today. He might just be a taxi option, or maybe something happens in the next 50ish minutes.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
